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 Post Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:45 pm 
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Got a brand new attraction on my Windows 7 Pro computer. Bottom right corner says "Windows Build 7601 followed by "This copy of Windows is not genuine and it opens a page saying "Your computer may be running a counterfeit copy of Windows and below that it says click here to fix it.

Does that sound like a message from Microsoft or something from a hacker? :roll:


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 Post Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:56 pm 
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It sounds legitimate. Instead of clicking it, though, go to Control Panel and check on the Activation status.
Do you know the source of this Windows 7? Was it ever activated? Did you recently make a hardware change?

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 Post Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:29 pm 
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sboots wrote:
It sounds legitimate. Instead of clicking it, though, go to Control Panel and check on the Activation status.
Do you know the source of this Windows 7? Was it ever activated? Did you recently make a hardware change?


Hi Steve....This was a new Del Computer I bought on Amazon many years back.
I went into the control panel like you suggested and it's not activated. How that happened I don't know.


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 Post Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:53 pm 
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Depending on how many years ago that you bought the system Amazon was famous in their marketplace for selling systems with bogus installs of Windows.

I'm going to make this as simple as possible for you...
  1. Check your private messages (PM) as I'm going to send you a valid Windows 7 Pro code. No special thing as I have several that I'll never use. Consider it recognition of the fact that you have been faithful to this site. ;)
  2. Save the code.
  3. Go to System in your Control Panel and there should be an option to change or enter a new product key. Enter what I send via the PM and follow through.
  4. Try to activate.
  5. Reply as to success or failure.

LOL! And what ever happened to your promises of Victoria's Secret??? :rofl2:

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 Post Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 9:28 pm 
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Allyson wrote:
Hi Steve....This was a new Del Computer I bought on Amazon many years back.
I went into the control panel like you suggested and it's not activated. How that happened I don't know.

I see that Jay has provided a solution to you that is excellent. Before using it, though, you might simply try activating Windows to see what it returns. It may end up being a glitch and will activate. If it fails activation, then, by all means, use Jay's solution.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:02 pm 
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sboots wrote:
Allyson wrote:
Hi Steve....This was a new Del Computer I bought on Amazon many years back.
I went into the control panel like you suggested and it's not activated. How that happened I don't know.

I see that Jay has provided a solution to you that is excellent. Before using it, though, you might simply try activating Windows to see what it returns. It may end up being a glitch and will activate. If it fails activation, then, by all means, use Jay's solution.

Failure Steve... I didn't consider that my codes are for Windows 7 Ultimate, not Windows 7 Pro. :(

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 Post Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:30 pm 
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Steve, a followup... Allyson's system now refuses to accept a new key code from the keyboard saying that the keyboard is no longer a valid input. Would you agree with me that this would probably indicate an infection? My opinion at this point would be for a clean install. Actually my advice would be to go to Windows 10 but we've been through that discussion... I supplied Windows 7 Pro codes and they are refused seemingly due to the keyboard no longer being considered a valid input.

For myself I will continue to try to resolve but Allyson has to remember that we warned about the dangers of running Windows 7 after its end of life.

@ Allyson: I'm now seeing some oddities with my Windows 7 virtual machine. I can't remember if you are using AVG or Avast. You might try removing the AV and then trying to activate. I THINK that you are using AVG on my recommendation. That is what I'm using in my virtual machine. With the last AVG update my virtual machine has become REALLY strange but still activated and functional. If I'm correct that you are using AVG you might want to remove and see if activation will work. If activated try Avast as to security.

Not trying to yell at you or anything but we did our best to try to get you to drop Windows 7 as it is obsolete and a potential danger. Not a total fact but it is quite possible that you may now be seeing the results of not heeding our advice.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:03 am 
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Well, that's an interesting development about the keyboard not being a valid input device. I would concur that it suggests an infection or, as you suggested, a problem with AVG interfering with the system devices.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 5:20 am 
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I WILL say that I begin to wonder...

My Windows 7 Ultimate virtual machine is now acting REALLY odd! While it still shows as activated I cannot apply a desktop background or get access to the Control Panel. I can open the Control Panel but when I go to click on an option it just disappears. Same type of thing if I try to assign a slideshow for the desktop. It will momentarily show an image then go to a blank screen.

I find it hard to believe but is it possible that Microsoft has actually shut down functionality in Windows 7? Of course two cases of oddities are too small of a sample to draw absolute conclusions but it seems REALLY odd to me that Allyson's Windows Pro system is no longer activated and displays the possibility of being fake and my Windows 7 Ultimate virtual machine has become, pretty much, unusable.... Short break while I bring up my Windows 7 virtual machine again to check if installed software is functional. OK, Firefox still works but I DID trip on another oddity. If I go to the volume control and change it will go into a loop and just keep beeping.

I don't really believe that Microsoft has actively shut down Windows 7 even though it seems to have become pretty broken. I think it much more likely that the current internet corruption that has affected such sites as the Olympics and, also, parts of Microsoft, has caused an issue where SOME Windows systems cannot be seen by the servers that check activation. Since Windows 7 activation servers would likely be different than Windows 10 activation servers I find it possible that such a thing could affect Windows 7 while Windows 10 seems fine.

If anyone else is still running an instance of Windows 7 I would appreciate any input as to current performance whether running on a physical or virtual machine. I just find it too much of a coincidence that Allyson is having her issues and I'm seeing issues with no changes to either system. My systems just don't seem to break. Yet, without any changes, my Windows 7 virtual machine is broken. Restored from the last time it was totally fine and it is still broken. Something is going on...

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 Post Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 10:29 am 
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Very odd, but there are no reports of Microsoft breaking Windows 7 functionality. When support ends, it basically means that no more updates are released -- the product simply is unsupported.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 1:51 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
I WILL say that I begin to wonder...

My Windows 7 Ultimate virtual machine is now acting REALLY odd! While it still shows as activated I cannot apply a desktop background or get access to the Control Panel. I can open the Control Panel but when I go to click on an option it just disappears. Same type of thing if I try to assign a slideshow for the desktop. It will momentarily show an image then go to a blank screen.

I find it hard to believe but is it possible that Microsoft has actually shut down functionality in Windows 7? Of course two cases of oddities are too small of a sample to draw absolute conclusions but it seems REALLY odd to me that Allyson's Windows Pro system is no longer activated and displays the possibility of being fake and my Windows 7 Ultimate virtual machine has become, pretty much, unusable.... Short break while I bring up my Windows 7 virtual machine again to check if installed software is functional. OK, Firefox still works but I DID trip on another oddity. If I go to the volume control and change it will go into a loop and just keep beeping.

I don't really believe that Microsoft has actively shut down Windows 7 even though it seems to have become pretty broken. I think it much more likely that the current internet corruption that has affected such sites as the Olympics and, also, parts of Microsoft, has caused an issue where SOME Windows systems cannot be seen by the servers that check activation. Since Windows 7 activation servers would likely be different than Windows 10 activation servers I find it possible that such a thing could affect Windows 7 while Windows 10 seems fine.

If anyone else is still running an instance of Windows 7 I would appreciate any input as to current performance whether running on a physical or virtual machine. I just find it too much of a coincidence that Allyson is having her issues and I'm seeing issues with no changes to either system. My systems just don't seem to break. Yet, without any changes, my Windows 7 virtual machine is broken. Restored from the last time it was totally fine and it is still broken. Something is going on...


Hi Jay.....I am currently running 4 Windows 7 Pro Computers, 1 Windows XP Computer, and 1 Windows 10 Computer. I checked them all out this morning and they are all working correctly except the Windows 7 Pro machine that was not activated (so they say) because it was activated and working before I moved it to another room. In any event, I decided to do a clean install and I put the CD that came with the computer into the drive, booted up to that drive and it installed all the Windows files and seems to be working fine at the moment. I did not install any anti virus software as I will more than likely not be going on the net with that computer.

Now, for the big No No. The main Windows 7 Computer that I use every day no longer has any 3rd party anti virus software installed, but it does run Microsoft Security Essentials every night at 1am. The program I had ran out about a year ago and I have no plans to get new software. I have no idea why this computer "flies free" now because it used to drive me crazy with problems when I was getting updates. Perhaps since Windows 7 fell by the wayside, the hackers are not interested and only want to mess with those running 10 or maybe even 11 soon. I have several 2tb USB drives and every file that I put on this computer also goes on one of the usb drives so no need to worry about losing anything if this computer just gets old and dies.


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 Post Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:48 pm 
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Allyson wrote:
Now, for the big No No. The main Windows 7 Computer that I use every day no longer has any 3rd party anti virus software installed, but it does run Microsoft Security Essentials every night at 1am.


Running Microsoft Security Essentials (which has a real time prevention component) and a scan daily is actually a good thing. It is an antivirus program. :-)

Actually, your risk with running Windows 7 is fairly low if you are a careful user -- that is watching where you visit on the web and not opening unsolicited files. The more web browsing you do and the more files you download and open, the greater the risk, but MSE will continue to protect you from much of what's out there. A direct hack via port scanning is rare and harder to accomplish if you are connected to a router, which performs Network Address Translation (NAT) and is the forward facing device to the Internet.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:07 pm 
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Glad things worked for you Allyson. :) For myself my Windows 7 Ultimate virtual machine is still useless. I'm currently trying to remove AVG anti-virus but not having a lot of luck. Every time I go to click on something it disappears.... I may also need to do a clean install.

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